Unionist politicians were blaming republicans for the murder of Newry drugs dealer Mr Paul "Bull" Downey, whose body was found wrapped in a bloodstained blanket on a country road near the south Armagh village of Belleeks on Sunday.
The RUC has appealed for public assistance in apprehending Mr Downey's killers. Mr Downey (37), from Newry, was shot in the head with a shotgun after being abducted by a group of masked men from a Newry hotel around 1.30 a.m. on Sunday. He had been having dinner with his wife at the Canal Court Hotel and was abducted from the car-park.
An RUC spokesman said Mr Downey, from Derryleckagh, Newry, had been shot in the head with a shotgun blast. Detectives are trying to determine whether paramilitaries or rival drugs dealers were involved. Mr Downey had been stripped to the waist. He is the second major drugs dealer to be murdered in the Newry area in just over a month. The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, is likely to come under pressure from unionists to reassess the IRA ceasefire following Mr Downey's death. Security sources say Mr Downey was a well-known drugs dealer who mainly handled cannabis. He was understood to have had connections with Mr Brendan "Speedy" Fegan (24), a drugs dealer who was shot dead in the Hermitage Bar in Newry last month.
Yesterday, Mr Downey's home outside Newry was abandoned, with his rottweiler keeping guard. There has been widespread political condemnation of the murder. But there was a mixed reaction in Belleeks yesterday. One woman said: "It's terrible to think that man was lying there, but at least his family has got a body to bury."
Another neighbour questioned why the body was dumped in the village. "This will not do Belleeks any good, the bad publicity. It's an awful thing to happen, I know, but he was from Newry. Why did they choose this village?" she asked.
Unionists blamed the Provisional IRA's south Armagh brigade for the killing. Mr Gregory Campbell, of the Democratic Unionist Party, said it was a breach of the IRA ceasefire, which the British government should address. "This killing bears all the hallmarks of an IRA attack and if that's the case, there is a very clear implication for the IRA ceasefire," he said.
An Ulster Unionist Party member, Mr Danny Kennedy, shared Mr Campbell's assumption. "Nothing happens, or can happen, in south Armagh - that is its nature - without something being allowed or sanctioned in some shape or form by the Provisional IRA," he said.
The Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, said he was appalled by the killing. "Those who carried it out have assumed the power over life and death. Society must be protected from those who resort to violence for any reason." He said Mr Downey's murder was another example that some people in Northern Ireland, "not content with just being the judge and jury, had to be the executioner as well".
Sinn Fein rejected this. Mr Brendan Curran said there was no evidence to indicate who was responsible. "There is no justification for this accusation that republicans were responsible."
Mr Vincent McKenna, of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Bureau, who is expected to have talks today with the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Andrew Mackay, said he would raise the incident with Dr Mowlam. "I will be asking whether there is an official conspiracy of silence from the British government in order to keep Sinn Fein and the loyalist terrorists in the peace process," he said.